Corsair, one of the top mechanical keyboard brands in the market, is famous due to its excellent gaming keyboards like the K70 RGB and the STRAFE RGB. Its current top-of-the-line mechanical gaming keyboard is the Corsair K95 RGB Platinum, and it offers almost everything that a PC gamer dreams for: quality mechanical keys, per-key RGB lighting, N-key rollover, macro keys, onboard memory, dedicated media keys, and a detachable wrist rest. There’s an additional RGB light bar to sweeten things up, but the keyboard costs a bomb (INR 14,990 in India).
Corsair K95 RGB Platinum
₹14,990
What Is Good?
- Excellent build quality & attractive looks.
- Cherry MX Speed mechanical switches are fast.
- RGB lighting is bright and the key font is clear.
- Six macro keys & dedicated multimedia keys.
- 32-bit ARM processor and on-board storage to save profiles.
- Cable management system.
- USB 2.0 passthrough.
What Is Bad?
- No double shot PBT keycaps & no Cherry MX Blue switch option.
- No audio passthrough.
- USB passthrough is USB 2.0 instead of USB 3.0.
- iCUE software needs a better design.
Apart from its high price tag, there’s almost nothing to not like about the K95 RGB Platinum. However, even the best-specced devices can disappoint when it comes to real-life performance. So, what’s the Corsair K95 RGB Platinum like in real life? I had the chance to use it for more than three months and here’s what I think about it.
[P_REVIEW post_id=159164 visual=’full’]
Corsair K95 RGB Platinum Features
The Corsair K95 RGB Platinum is a full-sized gaming mechanical keyboard that uses aircraft-grade anodized brushed aluminum chassis. Its keys use Cherry MX RGB SPEED mechanical switches and there’s N-key rollover (which means you can press any number of keys at once). There are six macro keys on the left side of the keyboard, arranged vertically. There are dedicated media playback keys, a mute key and a volume roller above the number pad. There’s a USB 2.0 port towards the top and a braided non-removable USB cable connects to the computer. There’ is an X-shaped cable management slot on the underside of the keyboard through which you can route cables (such as headphones).
There’s a 19-zone RGB light bar (Corsair calls it LightEdge) along the top edge of the keyboard, and it looks fascinating. Bright RGB keys and the RGB light bar make the K95 RGB Platinum one of the best-looking gaming keyboards in the market right now. However, the competition is increasing day-by-day, and we’ve seen some brilliant looking gaming keyboards during CES 2019 and the surrounding days. There’s a detachable wrist rest which has a rubber pad with a textured surface. The rubber panel is dual-sided and you can use any texture that you feel comfortable with.
The keyboard’s lighting effects (colors and sequences), macros, polling rate, and all the other settings can be accessed and modified using Corsair’s iCUE software. In terms of features, the K95 RGB Platinum is up there with the best in the business. The only thing that I see missing is a 3.5mm headphone jack, but if you use a USB headset or a wireless headset with a USB dongle, you can plug it in the USB passthrough port on the keyboard.
Corsair K95 RGB Platinum Build Quality & Design
The K95 RGB Platinum is huge, in spite of the reduction of macro keys from 18 to just 6, and it is heavy (1.32kg). However, you’ll be surprised to know that it has slimmed down compared to its predecessors, the K90 and the K95. The aluminum chassis’ build quality is amazing and no matter how hard you press it, it won’t bend or flex. Even the wrist rest is really well made, but the magnets which help the rubber pad get aligned to the wrist rest are too strong and your fingers might get pinched between the pad and the wrist rest. The braided cable is fat and doesn’t bend easily, but I’ve seen worse on other keyboards. It would have been much better if the cable was detachable. There are four rubber feet at the bottom and there are two legs which can be raised for height adjustment.
The keys are mounted on top of the base plate, and the design looks extremely similar to the HyperX Alloy which I’ve owned in the past. Things like crumbs, dust, and hair are easily visible due to this design, it is also easier to remove keys and get the keyboard cleaned. Macro keys have a textured surface and a metallic color. There’s a set of textured WASD keys that you use as a replacement (using the supplied keycap puller) for non-textured WASD keys that come installed on the keyboard. There’s a gap between left modifier keys and G macro keys, so you won’t accidentally hit them easily. Keys have a bold and blocky font, which not only makes alphabets and symbols appear clear but also let a lot of RGB light outside making them appear bright due to increased translucent space. After being used for three months, I can’t see any key shining. For some reason, none of the keyboard makers use mechanical switches for multimedia keys or profile switcher keys.
Corsair K95 RGB Platinum Typing Experience
Most gamers prefer Cherry MX Red switches, which are light, have a low actuation point (2mm), and there’s no tactile bump. Corsair has used an improved version of the Cherry MX Red, and they’re called Cherry MX Speed. These switches are quite similar to the Cherry MX Red in nature but have an even shorter actuation point (at just 1.2mm) which make them faster than Cherry MX Reds. They’re good for 50 million key presses, a limit which you won’t complete in a few years.
As expected, the keys are really fast and they need a force of just 45 grams to initiate the press. However, I am not a pro-level gamer I didn’t notice such a huge improvement over Cherry MX Red, but those who spend more time gaming would appreciate these switches more. Too bad that Corsair doesn’t use double-shot PBT keycaps on the K95 RGB Platinum, while the lower priced K70 RGB MK.2 use double-shot PBT keycaps. Some competitors who have priced their keyboards at half the price of the K95 RGB Platinum are offering double-shot PBT keycaps and boxed switches.
| Actuation Force | Actuation Point | Nature | |
| Cherry MX SPEED | 45g | 1.2mm | Linear & Silent |
| Cherry MX Red | 45g | 2mm | Linear & Silent |
| Cherry MX Brown | 45g | 2mm | Tactile & Silent |
| Cherry MX Blue | 50g | 2mm | Tactile & Clicky |
| Cherry MX Black | 60g | 2mm | Linear & Silent |
| Cherry MX Clear | 65g | 2mm | Tactile & Clicky |
| Cherry MX Green | 80g | 2mm | Tactile & Clicky |
| Cherry MX White | 85g | 2mm | Tactile & Clicky |
Apart from gaming, I did a lot of office work that required writing tens of thousands of words, editing images, and general day-to-day computing tasks over a period of more than three months. I personally prefer tactile keys with audible clicks, so I enjoy using Cherry MX Blue and Outemu Blue Boxed switches. However, I must say, I got comfortable with Cherry MX Speed switches after a few days. There’s Windows Lock key which disables Windows key as well as key combinations such as Alt+Tab and Alt+F4 (through the Performance tab in the iCUE software), which helps a lot while gaming if you don’t want to accidentally halt your gaming session. You can change RGB lighting effects and colors using key combinations. Multimedia keys and volume roller were a joy to use, and needless to say, quite handy.
I don’t use macro keys much, but to test this keyboard, I assigned key combinations for games like Counter Strike Global Offensive and they worked quite as expected. I also assigned macros for day-to-day writing and editing tasks such as cut, copy, and paste.
When it comes to the software part, Corsair’s iCUE has all the features you would need to configure the keyboard and each key’s behavior as per your liking. You can create, save, and modify profiles. You can select pre-configured lighting effects, cycle through them, modify them, and save them in the onboard memory. Changing the polling rate, updating the software, and updating the firmware can also be done. You can even create a custom dashboard where you can see all system information such as CPU, GPU, and RAM clock speed, load, and temperature. However, the software isn’t very intuitive and it takes time to learn. Moreover, it crashed every time new firmware was being downloaded. Corsair needs to improve the design, looks, and layout of the software as well to make it easier to use. In comparison, Logitech’s G Hub software looks much cleaner and is easier to use.
Should You Buy The Corsair K95 RGB Platinum?
The Corsair K95 RGB Platinum is one of the most feature-rich gaming keyboards available in the market right now. It has excellent build quality, fast and reliable Cherry MX Speed switches, attractive RGB lighting, macro keys, cable management, and a USB passthrough. It does have a few downsides—there’s no audio passthrough, USB passthrough works at 2.0 speeds, unintuitive iCUE software, and high price—but, most of these are not big enough to stop us from recommending you the Corsair K95 RGB Platinum.
Yes, the price is quite steep (at INR 14,990), but if you have the money and if gaming eats up a chunk of your daily time, you should definitely consider this keyboard as one of the best choices in the market. However, you should also consider that better keyboards will probably hit the market really soon. Competing gaming keyboard brands (like ASUS, Razer, and SteelSeries) are coming up with cheaper keyboards that have optical switches or switches that self adjust their actuation points as per the user’s typing behavior or needs. You can get most of the K95 RGB Platinum’s features at half the price if you buy keyboards that use Cherry MX knockoffs. Corsair has to up the ante this year if it wants to stay at the top of the game.
Alternatives To Corsair K95 RGB Platinum At Same Price
- ASUS ROG Strix Glare – $179 (Now $139)
- CoolerMaster MK850 – $199
- Logitech G910 – $179
- Razer Huntsman Elite – $199
- SteelSeries Apex Pro – $199
